Burial vault



INVENTOR ZIT/@Mns F JEM/ 9 ATTORNEY i l I l T. F. JETER BURIAL VAULTFiled Jan. 6. 1950 March 17, 1931.

f NN Patented Mar. 17, 1931 ATS THOMAS F. JETER, 0F TACOMA, WASHINGTONBURIAL VAULT Application ed. January 6, 1930. Serial No. 418,671.

disclosed in United States Patents, Numbers 1.532,313 and i,39i386,issued to me on lo April 7, 1925, and September 2G, 1921, re-

spectively.

It is the principal object of the present invention to provide a vaultthat is of more satisfactory construction than those of the lo patentsabove referred to, especially in the formation of the dead air chamberand the sealing of this chamber and the casket chamlin the er "fractionof the earlier patent,

ned, the sealing of the joint bet-we c over plate and vault walls wasnot entirely satisfactory, for the reason that the position oit thejoint permitted moisture to seep and any freezing then resulted inopening the seam, thus iinally permitting seepage into l" dead air sace.

In the second patent, a ove referred to, the joint better sealed byreason of 'ting the cover plate down into fresh con 3G crete held inplace by a Wooden form, but it has been found that the form sometimesexpands and causes loosening or' the joint with the ultimate result ofseepage entering the dead air chamber.

The present invention has for its object to rovide a surface vault inwhich all the desirable features of the two vaults previously patentedby me are embodied, and in which a new method of construction isfollowed which makes possible a positivel and permanently sealed casketand dea air chamber.

Other objects of the invention reside in the detaiisof construction andcombination of parts as will hereinafter be described.

In accomplishing these and other objects, I have provided the improveddetails .of constructlon, the preferred forms of which are illustratedin the accompanying drawings, wherein- Figure 1 is a longitudinalsection, of a burial vault constructed according to details of thepresent invention.

Figure 2 is a cross section taken on line 2-2 in Figure 1. 55 Figure 3is a plan or top view, with parts broken away for better illustration.

Referring more in detail to the drawings- The Vault body is ofrectangular form and comprises opposite end Walls land 2, oppo- 9 siteside Walls 3 and 4, and a bottom wall 5, all of which are preferablyintegrally cast from suitably reenforced concrete, other suitablematerial sufficiently thick to give the desired strength and durabilityand to be 65 water and air tight.

The upper portions of the side and end Walls are of less thickness thanthe lower portions, thereby providing an u Wardly facing seat orshoulder 6 entirely about the 70 inner surface of the vault for thesupport of an upwardly crowned slab 7 of concrete, or the like, which isdesigned to cover the casliet chamber 8 formed by the lower portion ofthe vault. 75

After the casket has been placed in the vault, and the cover slab 7placed on the shoulders, the chamber is sealed by a layer of wetconcrete being poured over the slab. This layer of concrete, asdesignated at 10, 39 is lof sucient thickness to positively seal thejoint about the side and end Walls and will give added strength anddurability to the vault.

After thesealing of the casket chamber 8 has been completed, a iorm isplaced on the concrete seal 10 for the formation of a dead air chamberabove the casket chamber; the advantages of which were fully disclosedin 9o my prior patents. This form, preferably would be of concrete orother material that is not effected by moisture, and comprises ahorizontal top wall l2, opposite side walls 13=-`13, and opposite endwalls 141-14; the 05 side and end walls are parallel with but spacedinwardly from the side Walls of the vault and the top wall 12 issomewhat below the level of the to edge ofthe walls of the vault.Beneath t e wall '12 and bounded 10 concrete layer 16 has set, so thatthe fianges by the walls 13-13 and 14-14 is the dead air chamber 15.

After this form has been placed in position it is covered over with alayer of plastic concrete 16 which also fills the spaces between thevault walls and side and end walls of the form, as at 17, to positivelyseal the dead air chamber and thus provide additional sealing for thecasket chamber.

The to surface of the concrete layer 16 is practically level with thetop edges of the side and end walls of the vault, and overlyin this is acover slab 18 which rests about its e ges upon the vault walls and has adepending flange 19 extended down within the vault walls to prevent itsbeing displaced. This cover is placed in position 'before the 19 willembed themselves. It is sometimes desirable to place some sort ofseparator about the flanges so that the cover slab may be lifted ofl:`in case it is desired to replace it, also to provide for expansion ofair thus dispensing with Ventilating tubes.

In its preferred form, the cover slab has a centrally arched portion 16aproviding an air space 20 beneath it. It also is provided with aninclined head portion 22 for receivin a marker 23 as shown in Figure 1.

` so constructing the vault, the undesiralile results from use of woodenforms are eliminated, and a positively sealed dead air and casketchamber results. Even though the seam between the cover and vault Wallsis under ground or water, no Water can poss)iebly seep through and intothe casket cham- It is a parent that minor changes in the details of)construction might be made without departing from the spirit of theinvention, and for this reason it is not desired that the claimsbelimited only to .those shown but that they broadly cover the devicecommensurate with the invention. v

Having thus described my invention, what" I claim as new therein anddesire to secure by Letters-Patent, is:

1. In a vault of the character described, a casket chamber having anoverlyingl sealing slab, a form disposed upon the slab aving a `top walland having side and end walls spaced inwardly from the side andend-walls of the vault, and a sealing slab of plastic concrete filledover and about the form and filling the spaces between its side and endWalls and the vault walls to seal thel vault and forming a Asealed deadair chamber within the form.

2. In a vault of the character described, comprising opposite side andend walls and a bottom wall forming a' casket chamber within the lowerportion of the vault; said' side andv end walls having shoulders abouttheir inner surfaces, a cover slab for the casket chamber restin on saidshoulders, a

sealing slab of plastic material overlying the said slab, a formdisposed upon the said sealing slab and comprising a top Wall andopposite side and end walls which are spaced inwardly from the side andend walls of the vault, and a sealing slab of plastic concrete filledover and about the form and filling the spaces between its'side Wallsand the vault walls and providing a sealed dead air chamber within theform.

3. In a vault of the character described, comprising o posite side andend walls and a bottom wall orming a casket chamber within the lowerportion of the vault; said side and end walls having shoulders, abouttheir inner surfaces, a cover sla'b for the casket chamber resting onsaid shoulders, a sealing slab of plastic material overlying the coverslab, a form disposed upon the said sealing slab and comprising a topWall and op osite side and end walls which are spaced lnwardly from theside and end walls of the vault, a sealing slab of plastic concretefilled over and about the form and filling the spaces between its sidewalls and the vault Walls and providing a sealed dead air chamber Withinthe form, and a cover sla-b overlying the vault and having flan s formedon its under side to fit within t e side and end walls of the vault andto embed themselves in the plastic sealing slab; said cover slab-beingarched upwardly to form an air space between vit and the sealing slab ofthe dead air chamber.

Signed at Seattle, Washington, this 20th day of December, 1929.

THOMAS F. JETER.

